Month: December 2013

“You are from this world; I am not from this world.”
—John 8.23, spoken by Jesus

“Then Jesus said to them, When you lift up the Son of Man, then you will know that I AM; and from Myself I do nothing; but as My Father taught Me, these things I speak. And the One who sent Me is with Me. The Father did not leave Me alone, for I do the things pleasing to Him always. As He spoke these things, many believed into Him.”
John 8.28-30

“Then Jesus said to the Jews who had believed in Him, If you continue in My Word, you are truly My disciples. And you will know the truth, and the truth will set you free. They answered Him, We are Abraham’s seed, and we have been in slavery to no one, never! How do You say, You will become free? Jesus answered them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Everyone practicing sin is a slave of sin. But the slave does not remain in the house forever; the son remains to the age. Therefore, if the Son sets you free, you are free indeed.”
—John 8.32-36

“If God were your Father, you would love Me, for I went forth and have come from God. For I have not come from Myself, but that One sent Me.”
John 8.42

“Truly, truly, I say to you, If anyone keeps My Word, he will not behold death to the age, never.”
—John 8.51

“Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Before Abraham came to be, I AM!”
—John 8.58

32 Then Jesus said to them, Truly, truly, I say to you, Moses has not given you the bread out of Heaven, but My Father gives you the true bread out of Heaven.
33 For the bread of God is He coming down out of Heaven and giving life to the world.
34 Then they said to Him, Lord, always give us this bread.
35 Jesus said to them, I am the Bread of life; the one coming to Me will not at all hunger, and the one believing into Me will not thirst, never!
36 But I said to you that you also have seen Me and did not believe.
37 All that the Father gives to Me shall come to Me, and the one coming to Me I will in no way cast out.
38 For I have come down out of Heaven, not that I should do My will, but the will of Him who sent Me.
39 And this is the will of the Father sending Me, that of all that He has given Me, I shall not lose any of it, but shall raise it up in the last day.
40 And this is the will of the One sending Me, that everyone seeing the Son and believing into Him should have everlasting life; and I will raise him up at the last day.

Many people are stuck emotionally and sentimentally at the birth of Jesus. Perhaps they celebrated “baby Jesus” when they themselves were little children, snug and warm in mother and father’s home. And now, years later, the yearnings and memories of people, places and times long gone still linger, and they cannot let go of the “feeling and tradition”. But is that really Jesus? Feelings and traditions?

Jesus did not come into the world to be a baby. And His birth and babyhood — contrary to popular culture — is not His greatest accomplishment. There is no precedent in Scripture for the mainstreaming of a religious birthday celebration into popular culture. Almighty God did not become flesh to create or enable a worldwide birthday party or gift exchange for the inhabitants of the world. Jesus is God. And God became a man to reveal the love of God and the offer of eternal Life to a dying world through His own hideous death for the sins of the world, His burial in a grave, His resurrection from the dead, and His highly exalted ascension into the Presence of His Father in heaven. The Person of Jesus — right now at this very moment and not backwards in time — is God’s love letter and offer of Hope to a dying world. Want to learn more about who Jesus is?

Read about Jesus in the Scriptures…

“Jesus Anointed/Christ the Faithful Witness, the First-born out of the dead, and the Ruler of the kings of the earth. To Him loving us and washing us from our sins by His blood, and made us kings and priests to God, even His Father. To Him is the glory and the might forever and ever. Amen. Behold, He comes with the clouds, and every eye will see Him, and the ones who pierced Him, and all the tribes of the earth will wail on account of Him. Yes, Amen. I am the Alpha and the Omega, the Beginning and the Ending, says the Lord, the One who is, and who was, and who is coming, the Almighty.”
—Revelation 1.5-8

“For in Him all the fullness of the Godhead dwells bodily”
—Colossians 2:9

“In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was in the beginning with God. All things came into being through Him, and without Him not even one thing came into being that has come into being. In Him was life, and the life was the light of men; and the light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not overtake it.”
—John 1.1-5

“He was in the world, and the world came into being through Him, yet the world did not know Him. He came to His own, and His own did not receive Him. But as many as received Him, to them He gave authority to become children of God, to the ones believing into His name, who were born not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but were born of God. And the Word became flesh and tabernacled among us. And we beheld His glory, glory as of the only begotten from the Father, full of grace and of truth.”
—John 1.10-14

“And in the last day of the great feast, Jesus stood and cried out, saying, If anyone thirsts, let him come to Me and drink. The one believing into Me, as the Scripture said, Out of his belly will flow rivers of living water. But He said this concerning the Spirit, whom the ones believing into Him were about to receive; for the Holy Spirit was not yet given, because Jesus was not yet glorified.”
—John 7.37-39

“But many of the crowd believed into Him, and said, The Christ, when He comes will He do more miraculous signs than these which this One did?”
—John 7.31

Read more in your own bible…

“There are also many other things which Jesus did, which if they would all be written, I suppose that even the world itself wouldn’t have room for the books that would be written.”
—John 21:25

“Truly, truly, I say to you that an hour is coming, and now is, when the dead will hear the voice of the Son of God, and the ones hearing will live. For even as the Father has life in Himself, so He gave also to the Son to have life in Himself.”
—John 5.25,26

“Behold, I stand at the door and knock. If anyone hears my voice and opens the door, then I will come in to him, and will dine with him, and he with me.”
—Revelation 3:20